Users are connecting to networks to access the Internet through a wide variety of connecting devices including smart phones, laptops, notepads and the like. The devices are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are capable of running a variety of applications and downloading files that consume large amounts of bandwidth. Bandwidth is a bit rate measure of available or consumed data communication resources typically expressed in bits/second or multiples of it (kilobits/s, megabits/s etc.). For example an MP3 music file may be approximately 5 MB; games can be as large as 1 GB; and a full length movie may be as large as 2.5 GB and may reach 4 GB to 5 GB if they are high definition (HD). Wireless devices also consume bandwidth when applications and protocols are run in background mode. Examples of such applications include software update checking processes, podcast updates, and participation in peer-to-peer network. In addition, user access to content from the Web may also trigger downloads of online ads that are a further source of bandwidth consumption.
In addition to the variety of wireless devices, users are increasingly able to connect to the Internet through a variety of access networks. These may include Wireless Wide area Networks such as GSM and 3G: Wireless metropolitan area networks such as WiMAX; Wireless local area networks such as WIFI and Wireless personal area networks such as Bluetooth and UWB. These networks may have different pricing and performance. Some networks have a flat rate for unlimited usage. For example, with the introduction of 3G networks in the United States many carriers initially used flat rates for unlimited data as an enticement to users. Some networks impose usage caps of anywhere from 250 MB to 2 GB per month to prevent network overloading. However, with the increasing use of bandwidth consuming applications some carriers have explored moving away from fixed rate unlimited usage pricing towards usage based pricing. For example, operators of 3G networks in the US are assessing usage based pricing. Usage based pricing is not uncommon, and is the default in many parts of the world (e.g. India) for wireline access. Such usage based pricing can have a time component with different peak and off peak models e.g., daytime and night time models.
Existing technologies do not provide users with the capability of effectively managing bandwidth usage depending on the applications used, the type of wireless device, the networks accessed, or the pricing and performance of the networks. There is a need to provide users with the ability to control the execution of applications and processes in wireless devices depending on the bandwidth consumed by the application or process and the cost characteristics of the network used.